Building and Item Rework Preview

OVERVIEW

Though we technically introduced systems for creating items and structures several events ago, we have found that these systems are difficult to work with.  Representing every item and structure with its own tapestry has proven cumbersome, and created a high barrier to entry for those who would like to interact with these systems.  We are in the process of an overhaul that simplifies the creation and management of both items and structures, and we will be adjusting costs and effects so that basic interaction with the system is approachable and provides benefits we consider fair.

RESOURCES

Our current system has a lot of resources that are unique to projects.  This can be a tad exhausting when we take time to build out mod rewards, we risk handing out rewards that people can’t really make use of or requiring things that people don’t have.  The previous system was effectively two tiers across 4-5 categories. The new system will have far fewer resources:

Food - feed people.  A basic and essential resource that supports a working populace.

Lumber - building material gained from forests.

Stone - building material gained from rocky or mountainous areas, generally better than Lumber.

Metal - building material gained from mines or caverns, generally better than Stone.

Trade Goods - quantities of generic items such as pottery or weaponry.  These items have no individual cost, but have cost collectively.

Lumber, Stone, and Metal are listed in order of increasing cost and difficulty to acquire.  Quarrying stone or Forging metal will likely have requirements beyond what Lumbering does. Lumber, in a change from the current system, can be harvested without having any harvest site building, but continually harvesting Lumber will gradually deforest an area.

Trade Goods represent large quantities of items we would normally consider trivial (as a player, you never pay for this stuff), such as textiles.  We assume that all characters make and spend a certain quantity of potentia that we don’t track (or spend idle time hunting and crafting), and those expenditures cover day-to-day living and basic goods.  Trade Goods are those goods scaled up in quantity to a point where we care about tracking them. For now, Trade Goods will be close to cash equivalent, with some value adjustments for populace and production rates (an Outpost with a lot of people will have higher demand for Trade Goods).  Trade Goods is also a catch-all for crafts that a character should be paid for that aren’t elsewhere in the system, like candle making, tailoring, and smithing non-magical gear.

All other resource requirements will become Essence requirements.  For example, a blueprint that required Copper will now require either Scrap or Voltaic essence, and old tags for Copper can be traded for those related essences.  We have found that the essence system works well to tie together loot, puzzle solving, and roleplay. Having more uses for Essence also means that we can shift more rewards towards essence.

ITEMS

Our original design for items required purchasing a tapestry and then filling it out, requiring a large up-front investment and possibly requiring a single player to carry multiple tapestries.  In our new design, a pattern corresponding to an item goes into your tapestry as an “overlay” that must affix to a pattern related to the benefit. This item pattern can be displayed by having it visible on the back of your tapestry. You will no longer need to have a separate tapestry for items. Existing items or blueprints will be updated or refunded to match the new system.

As an example, an Armor item pattern may specify that it needs to overlay a pattern that provides aegis.  A finely forged weapon may specify that it needs to overlay a stacking pattern. These restrictions mean that you have an effective cap of 8 items, and that your ability to customize an aspect of your character is limited by how heavily you have invested in that aspect.  If you have no Lore patterns, you wouldn’t be able to use an item overlay for Lores. If you have six patterns for shooting a bow, you could possibly have six overlays all related to archery.

Regarding prop work, we will require that you carry a prop related to any given item pattern.  However, you may use the same prop to represent multiple item patterns if applicable. So if you have three overlays that are all described as “giant spellbook”, they can all be the same actual spellbook.

In terms of balancing for items, our goal is for most items to accomplish a “customization” niche where the average item is less powerful than a pattern, but offers a new way of doing something or a broader method of interacting.  Examples may include adding prop requirements to casting in exchange for a benefit, giving access to a spell you couldn’t normally cast in your style, changing the immunities provided by your armor, or changing the ingredients needed for your Shaping designs.  In cases where an item does grant more direct power, you should expect it to be more expensive than a pattern that provides a similar benefit.

We are making adjustments to iconic and siphoning that will also have some effect on items.  It will be possible to encounter a monster that only attempts to siphon items, but is unable to siphon other patterns.  An iconic item can still be siphoned, but will have a penchant for returning to you. The next market day after an iconic item has been siphoned, the item will reappear somewhere near Crashpointe.

Lastly, some important items will continue to be represented by their own tapestries.  Legendary objects or items with intelligence will fall into this category.

Below you can see some examples of the items you’ll be able to acquire (Costs are currently being finalized)

STRUCTURES

The system currently in place for Structures is fraught with barriers to entry.  We will adjust costs to compensate. Requirements are being moved around so that an outpost can be designed more freely.  Regarding economy, we’re taking an incremental approach where the expected value per structure per event is fairly low. One of my goals with this system is to create a fun play space for players who just want to farm or ranch, and doing those things should be approachable.  Players who aim to become a real estate mogul or coal baron will find additional obstacles along the way, often related to security and trade.

The first change to notice is a shift in scale and description.  In the previous system, a building was represented by a tapestry with possibly several component cards.  In the new system, a building will be a single card and a tapestry will represent a larger “district”. An Outpost will consist of multiple Districts, each connected by Roads.  Roads act as followers to a Landmark, so an Outpost is like a bond group of places. Just as you can add and subtract members from a Bond, you can add or remove places from an Outpost, but doing so will take time.  Weavers cannot add and remove structures like they would patterns, but buildings and districts can be moved through small projects. The owner of a district can agree to sublet slots for buildings, so a player who wants to own a building won’t generally require a tapestry, though they may need a landlord.  When we first introduce the system, Cynwrig will sublet a certain number of building slots so that we can keep our initial scope in check.

Some functions previously handled by the structures system may become stationary items instead if they are too conceptually small to stand alone as a building.  Some functions will become overlays that apply to other structures - one of the most basic is “second story”, an overlay that doubles any “per event” functions of the building.

We’ve also been designing new systems for defensive buildings and invading territory.  Our goal here is to allow for stealth while implementing a system that is fair to both attackers and defenders.  Our current iteration allows us to tabletop with invaders moving around in the territory going from one card to another, while surveillance and traps placed by the defender provide obstacles.  This system has been fairly challenging to design, it’s practically a separate subgame. Fingers crossed.

CLOSING REMARKS

We will soon debut a preliminary or partial list of items and structures.  What kind of items or structures do you want to build? Do you have any questions regarding the system as described?  Please send us your questions and feedback as we attempt to complete work on this system.